Two weeks ago in my blog (article here), I totally skewered CompUSA and their warranty company (found out it’s Assurant Solutions) for not doing the right thing and honoring the extended warranty I purchased for an HDTV.
Within days of publishing that article, pushing it out to my Facebook, Plaxo, Twitter connections and posting it in the Linkedin Groups I belong to, I got a call from CompUSA.
Since I was driving in the car at the time, I never did get the person’s name, so lets call him Good Corporate Samaritan, or Sam for short. Essentially Sam wanted me to know two things:
First that the CompUSA I purchased my TV and my extended warranty from was not in business anymore and that the NEW CompUSA had nothing to do with the old one.
Secondly, he wanted me to know that he had made arrangements with their (the old CompUSA) warranty company for me to get a replacement TV.
Sam assured me that the new CompUSA would never treat a valued customer so shabbily. In that conversation, I told Sam that I believed heavily in the power of social media as the great equalizer that can right many wrongs that bad companies perpetrate on their clients.
I also told Sam that once I received my replacement TV, I would write a follow up and let people know that I had my CompUSA’s wrong. So for Sam and all of the employees at CompUSA, I just wanted to let you know that I did indeed receive a replacement TV on Thursday, and that the NEW CompUSA came to the rescue.
Thanks Sam! Much appreciated!
That said, I am a very lucky guy in that I have a bully pulpit with a decent sized following to preach to. (and thanks to all for listening by the way!!!)
Yet I have to wonder if Joe Everyman, would be as successful at getting justice from CompUSA or for that matter any company without said bully pulpit as a platform. I guess it depends on the company really, and how customer-centric they actually are.
Over the course of the next few weeks, I am going to further explore what it means for a company to be truly customer centric. I have a few great case studies for you.
Before I go today let me leave you with my favorite quote and essential operating concept that drives my business practices. The quote is from Peter Drucker and is brilliant in its elegant simplicity…
“There is only one valid definition of business purpose – to create a customer.
Companies are not in business to make things… but to make customers.”
I hope I am preaching to the choir here! What are your thoughts?
Gilbert Direct Marketing Worldwide, Inc. 